There are more and more frequent types of insurance fraud. Usually, if you request a loan from an entity not supervised by the market authorities and they ask you to purchase insurance to disburse the money, check the loan guarantees carefully.
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In many of these cases, when you buy the insurance, no insurer makes it effective and the lender asks you to enter the value of the supposed policy in a bank account. This would be a scam.
However, it is not the only modality. Now certain unauthorized companies are offering membership services to the social security system (Health, ARL or pensions), staying with the resources of the thousands of unwary.
In these cases, the affiliation never becomes effective, they are poorly classified in their risks or for periods shorter than those stipulated in the contract. Therefore, when an illness or work accident occurs, there is no one responsible.
The alert about scams was made by the insurance industry due to the increase in fraud that has been occurring with alleged policies. Miguel Gómez Martínez, president of Fasecolda, told EL TIEMPO that only in the second half of last year, close to 10,000 cases of fraud worth 67,950 million pesos, of which 8 percent was paid.
He also pointed out that 80% of the cases of fraud detected in that period of 2021 were concentrated in the Soat policies and Occupational Risks (ARL). “The most affected branch was Soatwith 5,622 events, followed by Occupational Risks (2,318), Health (541) and Automobiles (533),” the manager specified.
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In turn, another of the modalities used by criminals was through the false promise of a job for which the applicant had, as a prerequisite, to make a payment to acquire a supposed policy or a course.
In the case of Soat, Fasecolda warns that third parties in bad faith supplant insurance agents in order to issue bogus policies offering discounts ranging from 30% to more than 50% on the value of the total premium of the policy. This indicates that you will be sold a counterfeit or adulterated product.
Gómez Martínez also said that the scammers are also supplanting the insurance companies and the Fasecolda staff, offering vehicles for sale through web pages with the logos of the insurers. The official invited people not to believe in these illusions, because that is not the business of the companies.
“Fraud is a crime and insurance companies are increasingly using more sophisticated tools such as artificial intelligence to combat and control this scourge. This is just a sample of the multiple creativity to which the industry is exposed and, therefore, it is necessary to evolve in these detection tools and constantly monitor new typologies.”, specified the union spokesman.
Given the constant alerts for fraud, Fasecolda reported a series of recommendations so that people can easily detect when they are faced with the actions of criminals. Between them:
FALSE CREDITS
credits
private file
1. Be wary of credit offers to people reported in credit bureaus
2. Be wary of credit offers at low interest rates.
3. Be wary of credit offers that require you to deposit money in savings accounts associated with natural persons.
4. Avoid making advance payments
5. Do not trust web pages that include the name of insurance companies, such as www.cooperativasolidaria.com; www.segurosallianza.com www.allianzinversiones.com www.metlifeinversiones.com www.skandia-valores-sa.com.
6. Do not share documents or personal data through social networks or instant messaging services, go directly to a branch.
7. Identify misspellings.
8. Verify information directly with insurance companies, either through their website or official phone lines.
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FALSE JOB OFFERS
job
private file
1. Always check job offers on the entity’s official website or through recognized employment portals.
2. Do not share documents or personal data through social networks or instant messaging services.
3. Do not trust job offers that require as a prerequisite to make payments for the acquisition of policies or courses.
4. Check directly with the insurance company about the policies you should purchase.
5. Be wary of offers that request depositing money in savings accounts associated with natural persons.
CHEAP SOATS
Soat
istock
1. Be wary of SOAT policy offers with high discounts on the value of the premium.
2. Do not share documents or personal data through social networks or instant messaging services.
3. Do not purchase insurance policies when they ask you to consign to savings accounts of natural persons.
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4. Check directly with the insurance company, through an intermediary authorized by the insurer to issue SOAT policies.
5. Consult the suitability of insurance intermediaries (individuals and/or legal entities) to market insurance through the Single Insurance Intermediary Consultation System.
VEHICLE SALES
Mauricio Romero / Portfolio.co
1. Be wary of people who offer you a cheaper vehicle than normal. Of that so good they don’t give so much.
2. Verify the information directly with the insurance companies, either through their website or official telephone lines, never take this information from pages other than the official ones.
3. Be wary when they ask to deposit money in savings accounts of natural persons.
4. Validate the information of the vehicle for sale, through portals such as RUNT
5. Consult the suitability of insurance intermediaries (individuals and/or legal entities) to market insurance through the Single Insurance Intermediary Consultation System. www.sucis.com 6. If possible, make an appointment to see the vehicle and its condition.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EL TIEMPO*
